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In Pictures: Heatwave of 1976

The record-breaking summer of 1976 has become ingrained in British social history and scorched in our collective memory. 

On 23 June, the sun began to blaze down, heralding a heatwave which would last for 10 sweltering weeks. Temperatures peaked at 36 degrees Centigrade (97 Fahrenheit in old money).

Here’s what Britain looked like back in that summer.

Staines Reservoirs

Normally holding 3,500 million gallons, Staines Reservoirs dropped down to 17 million gallons amid the heatwave

Denis Howell

Denis Howell was appointed Drought Minister to help manage the water crisis

Standpipes

Residents across the country had to fill buckets from water standpipes in the street

Cerica

A model was photographed tanning herself in the dried-up basin of Pitsford Reservoir, Northamptonshire

Broad Oak

Drought-hit farmland at Broad Oak in Kent during August 1976

Queen Mother Reservoir

The average maximum daily temperature in June 1976 was 19.9C

1976 drought lookback

The River Thames at Teddington after Thames Water Authority back-pumped water at Molesey Weir

Newport

Household supplies in Newport, Wales, were cut for 12 hours a day in a bid to preserve the desperately low stocks

What memories do you have of the Summer of ’76?

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